The monograph by Professor Seyfeddin Rzasoy, Doctor of Sciences in Philology and Head of the Department of Mythology at the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, entitled “The Battle for Life on the Bridge of the Mad Shaman, has been published as the sixth volume in the epic series “Dede Gorgud”.

The 320-page book was edited by Atif Islamzade, PhD in Philology and Associate Professor, who also authored the foreword. The expert reviewer was Galib Sayilov, Doctor of Philological Sciences and Associate Professor.

The monograph examines the “Deli Domrul” episode of the Book of Dede Gorgud in the context of rites of passage and initiation, as well as the semantic fields of shamanism and madness. According to the author’s principal research thesis, the texts of the Dede Gorgud epic are associated with rites of passage and initiation. From this perspective, Domrul, the protagonist of the “Deli Domrul” episode, is presented, unlike the other Oghuz heroes, as the subject of a “becoming-a-shaman” initiation rite rather than a “becoming-a-bey” rite.

The book consists of an introduction, four sections, a conclusion and a bibliography.

The introduction addresses the theoretical issues of the study through the concept of questions posed by folklorist Elchin Abbasov, also referred to as the concept of the “compressed text”.

In the monograph it is mentioned that the importance of studying the epic text not only through the sequence of events, but also through parallel and complementary layers of meaning. Arguing that the text has a closed and repetitive structure corresponding to mythological thought, the author presents its analysis along both syntagmatic and paradigmatic dimensions as a methodological approach.

It should be noted that the book “The Battle for Life on the Bridge of the Mad Shaman” is the sixth volume in Seyfeddin Rzasoy’s series of studies devoted to the epic Dede Gorgud. Previous volumes in the series have examined the hero’s death and resurrection, the reconstruction of the Alp Aruz version of the epic, the shaman-hero’s journey into the world of Chaos, Salur Gazan’s slaying of Tepegöz, the collapse of the Oghuz myth and the transformation of the Salur Gazan myth.

The new monograph is of scholarly significance for the study of the mythological-semantic structure of the Book of Dede Gorgud, shamanic traditions and initiation motifs.